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CD19 CAR T Cell Therapy in SLE (9.16.2022)
The big news this week: the approval of deucravacitinib (a new class of drug?) for psoriasis; the 2022 ACR guidance on glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis; a national poll of older adults over the age of 50 who claimed self-reported or doctor-diagnosed arthritis; and much more. Let's review these and other news, journal reports and announcements from this past week.
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Does Methotrexate Use Lead to Melanoma?
A systematic review suggests that low-dose methotrexate (MTX) use is associated with an increased melanoma risk, but the absolute risk increase could be considered negligible.
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70% of Older Adults Report Joint Pain
Dr. Beth Wallace and colleagues at the University of Michigan surveyed a national sample of older adults (50–80 yrs) and found that 70% currently report experiencing joint pain and 60% reported being told by a health care professional that they have arthritis.
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Disease Activity Drives Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes in RA
Two large RA registries have shown that pregnancy outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients is more related to RA disease activity rather than treatments use to control RA.
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Does Fibromyalgia Need B12? (9.9.2022)
Can we predict the bad outcomes? Like when ITP evolves into SLE; or when psoriasis will develop arthritis; or if Sjogren's will develop lymphoma? Let's dive in and review these journal reports and this past week's news from RheumNow.com.
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Pirfenidone Potential in RA-Related Lung Disease
Rheumatoid arthritis patients with existing interstitial lung disease (ILD) had less decline in lung function when receiving the antifibrotic agent pirfenidone (Esbriet) relative to placebo in a randomized trial, researchers reported here and in a simultaneous journal publication.
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Global Trends Informing the Future of Rheumatoid Arthritis
Finkh et al report on the prevalence and interesting trends in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), including its higher prevalence in industrialized countries and declining disease severity over time.
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Goofy But True
Dr. Jack Cush discusses declining survival rates in the USA, FDA approvals of new COVID subvariant boosters and other odd and possibly true new research reports from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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Hypertension Associated with RA and OA
While hypertension and arthritis are very common disorders, the association between them is unclear. Analysis of NHANES data suggests that both rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) are strongly associated with hypertension (HTN).
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Prevalent Sleep Problems in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Data from Data FORWARD (The National Databank for Rheumatic Diseases) reveals that nearly two-thirds of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients have self-reported sleep problems.
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Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Olokizumab, another IL-6 Inhibitor for RA
This week's NEJM has published the efficacy results of a large phase 3 trial of olokizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody that directly targets IL-6 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
This is in contrast to two other marketed IL-6 inhibitors (sarilumab, tocilizumab) that bind to the IL-6 receptor.